Afternoons with Grandpa

My two oldest kids got a precious opportunity over the past couple of days....they each got to spend some one-on-one time with their Grandpa!

Zerin's turn was yesterday. He disappeared with Grandpa into his workshop for a few hours. They made Zerin a new walking stick, organized some things, puttered, and just were :). Zerin was all smiles when he came home, and it was all I could do to keep the walking stick out of his bed and not in his desk at school. He told me it is now one of his most prized possessions (his words) because his grandpa made it for him. I think his afternoon with Grandpa actually provided some inspiration. He now wants to enter the Reflections contest. This year, the theme is "Wow." He wants to take pictures of Grandpa's inventions, and then write about how his Grandpa makes him go, "wow" because he is such a terrific inventor. He adores his grandpa so much, and I cannot tell you how grateful I am he got the opportunity to be with him.

Liah's turn was today. She could hardly contain her excitement and wait until after preschool when it was time to go. She hurried home, got changed, snarfed her lunch, and piled herself and her backpack in the van (consequently, last night, she packed half of her clothes so she would have stuff to wear in case she got dirty working with grandpa ---hahaha!). Liah's not one to talk much about things, but when I would ask her what they did, I got her 15 year old, "Well," and then she listed off all their projects :) She cracks me up! Here she is scrubbing old popcicle sticks with Grandpa. When she was finished, she neatly stacked the sticks, hung the brush where it went, and reported for duty for her next task. I was impressed how quickly Grandpa trained her :) He found her a pretty box to put her treasures in, and Grandma wrote her name on it for her...Liah was afraid Zerin would think it was his...mind you it had flowers all over it :) She was so happy to be big, and to have Grandpa all to herself, it was a special time for her. She talked about it all the way home. Then she told me she was going to save all of her pennies and buy Grandpa a dog so the dog could take Grandpa on walks (not the other way around mind you). I told her dogs were a lot of work, and Grandpa wouldn't want to get another dog right now, and she just matter-of-factly replied that she would buy a cage with the dog so that Grandpa could put it away when he was too tired to go on walks. Life is just so simple when you are 4 :)

I can't get over how happy I am that these two got a chance to be with him today. I was blessed with two wonderful grandpas, and I know the deep impact they had on my life. So even though my kids didn't get the opportunity to know my father, I am sooooo glad they are so close to Bryan's dad. I just feel grateful grateful grateful!